After the Birds of Prey Centre we left Yorkshire behind for the Northlands of England. The first stop was Chester's Roman Fort along Hadrian's wall.
After a good look around there, which was pretty amazing and provided an opportunity for the children to run off some energy, it was off to another Roman ruin at Corbridge, a bit south of the line of Hadrian's Wall. I continue to be astounded about how much they can tell about life over 2000 years ago from what they uncover, and how much of it would still work if restored to original condition.
Next on the itinerary was a day at Diggerland in Durham. Awesome! Getting to operate excavators of various sizes, drive a backhoe, a small dump truck, and a bobcat, and the kids having the opportunity to drive go carts and a full sized 4WD - a totally wonderful and worthwhile experience.
After Diggerland it was the 'living museum' of Beamish. Another awesome day out, and if we didn't have to move on to our next port of call in Berwick-on-Tweed, we would have stayed longer. They had a Georgian farmstead, a Victorian town, a colliery and the associated town, and a working farm. The 'catch' was that everything in these different areas was done the same way it was in those particular eras - no microwaves, games consoles, or phones of any kind. We got to see boiled lollies being made, and heard stories about how life was in those eras. The explanation of life as a coal miner was very interesting - a lot of the coal seams were around 3 feet high (about 1 metre), so the miners had to work hunched over or laying down for their whole 8 hour shift in that sort of space to clear the coal and put in the bracing planks so the tunnels didn't collapse on them. Danielle wasn't impressed that we made her do the tour down the mine shaft... :)
In the Victorian dentist office we learned that whistles were attached to the masks for the nitrous oxide gas - so the dentist would know if their patient (who had been anaesthetised with pure cocaine and then put on the gas) died during surgery, and that unmarried women over 21 would have all their teeth pulled out as a birthday present, and be fitted with false ones!
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| Back in school - writing on a slate |
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| Rolling a hoop - Dan was the only one that could do it! |
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| Victorian Town main street |
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| Pit Town and Colliery in background |
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| Real coal mine |
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| Colliery |
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| Mixing the ingredients to make boiled lollies |
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| Rolling the lollies |
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| Dental tools |
If we'd only realised how much there was to see and do at Beamish, we would have done it and Diggerland the other way around.
Jo. xxx
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